This invention relates to additives for hydrocarbons suitable for use in an internal combustion engine. In one of its aspects this invention relates to detergent additives for hydrocarbon fuels. In another of its aspects this invention relates to fuel detergent additives for use in hydrocarbon fuel in internal combustion engines. In yet another aspect of the invention it relates to mixtures containing a plurality of different functional moieties combining to produce superior qualities for fuel detergents.
With the advent of pollution standards for automobile exhaust it became important that fuel additives not contain metal that tend to poison the catalyst in automotive engine exhaust converter systems. One of the better fuel and lubricant additives that was developed to replace additives containing metal was an acid-treated mixture of vegetable oil derived from amides and esters that was set out in U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,771. The product was particularly economically attractive because it was based on readily available vegetable oils.
It has now been found that by treating mixtures of vegetable oil derived amides and esters with compounds other than the acids set out in U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,771 that a fuel additive of equal or in some aspects better characteristics can be obtained. It has also been found that fatty acid sources such as vegetable oil acids, tall oil acid, and aralkyl acid which are also readily available can be substituted for the vegetable oil in the derivation of the amides useful in the invention.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide additive mixtures for internal combustion engine fuels containing multiple detergent functionalities. It is another object of this invention to provide a method for producing detergent additives for internal combustion fuels. It is still another object of this invention to provide a detergent fuel composition combining a fuel detergent additive with a hydrocarbon suitable for use as fuel in an internal combustion engine.
Other aspects, objects and the various advantages of this invention will become apparent upon reading this specification and the appended claims.